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Fitz Henry Lane
HISTORICAL ARCHIVE • CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ • EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE
An online project under the direction of the CAPE ANN MUSEUM
An online project under the direction of the CAPE ANN MUSEUM
Catalog entry
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inv. 345
New York Harbor
1852 Oil on canvas 23 1/2 x 35 in. (59.7 x 88.9 cm) Signed and dated lower right: FH Lane. / 1852
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Provenance (Information known to date; research ongoing.)
Lewis Gouverneur Morris, New York
Frances Elizabeth Morris Smith, Newport, R.I. and Palm Beach, Fla. (by inheritance)
Estate of Frances Elizabeth Morris Smith
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1994
Exhibition History
National Gallery of Art, Washington, District of Columbia, Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, May 15–September 5, 1988., no. 37, ill. in color, 99.
Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., 5–31, 1988.
Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., 5–31, 1988.
Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia, American Light: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, May–August 1998.
Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, Treasures of Light: Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, March 1–April 12, 1998.
Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island, The Morris Legacy: Profile of a Newport Collection, June 29–September 9, 2001.
Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Perfectly American: The Art-Union and Its Artists, July 24–October 2, 2011.
Published References
Wilmerding, John. Fitz Hugh Lane, 1804–1865: American Marine Painter. Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1964., no. 63, p. 59.
Fitz Hugh Lane 1804-1865. Rockland, ME: William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, 1974., no. 26.
Wilmerding, John. Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; in association with Harry N. Abrams, 1988., no. 37, ill. in color, p. 99.
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1996., ill. in color, pp. 408–10.
Commentary
A stiff breeze and a choppy Hudson River help set this lively scene off Manhattan’s West Side. The sloop in the left foreground, with her jib and mainsail reefed, has all the wind she can handle, while the square-riggers around her—a packet ship (left), a clipper ship (center), and a brig (right) are starting to take in sail. The oarsmen in the boat at far left cannot be enjoying their situation while rowing in that rough sea.
A large side-wheel steamer under way in the left background seems unaffected by the wind and waves. A vessel this size was typical for the coastal passenger service between New York and Boston, with stops at larger ports in Rhode Island, the Connecticut coast, and Long Island. Even larger steamers were to be built for that route and the New York-to-Albany service.
The black side-wheel steamer at center was intended for long coastal routes and transoceanic service. Sails were a necessity to steady the vessel’s motion in heavy seas and to keep her moving in the event of an engine problem.
In the distance, between the clipper and the brig, a smaller version of the coastal steamer is barely visible. These vessels were kept busy transporting commuters to Manhattan from Long Island Sound, Brooklyn, and New Jersey, as they were to do for over a century—and in some cases to this day.
– Erik Ronnberg